In the "traditional" sense, most people consider an RPG game to be a Pen & Paper RPG in the vane of Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, 13th Age, Savage Worlds, etc. The game is played more in your imagination and off your character sheet than it is on any kind of board. Talk to any boardgamer and mention "RPG" and that's generally what comes to mind. The "boards" are usually 'battlemats' for working out position during combat and the like, but much of the game is not played on any type of board.

Having said that there's quite a few boardgames that are what some people call "RPG-Light". They're played on a board, feature lots of bits, and include some type of character progression for the play session. They're usually much more theme-heavy than typical board games, but not as much as full blown RPGs and are generally self-contained. Unlike P&P RPGs these don't typically have any kind of character persistence beyond their play session (and the game can be won/lost in a few hours), so you start over every time. Games like Mage Knight, Runebound, Talisman, etc. could fall under this category.

ACGs (Adventure Card Games) probably fall somewhere in the middle.

My game falls under the "RPG-Light" category. It started out as a massive houserule for Return of the Heroes, but it got too the point I was changing so much that I just decided to start from scratch. I've re-used many of the mechanics and conventions in that game (the counters for example follow the same layout and have similar symbols meaning the same things, I maintained the 16-tile geomorphic board format, etc.), but with all custom artwork, overhauled dice mechanics (converting all the game mechanics from d6-based to d12-based), and a new story-heavy theme. There is character progression in the game (I've also added a basic skill system), but like most RPG-Light boardgames there is no persistence between play sessions. I'm also designing it primarily for solo play.

Yeah, well, I'm from a time when there were no so-called computer rpgs and nothing but pen & paper. So to me, RPG means RPG and everything else is something else : boardgame, computer game, mmo, what have you...

Note that I tried many of these, and they are most certainly entertaining. I'm just saying that they are not RPGs, that's all.

Not in the sense I'm used to at least. i.e.: Basically : everything is possible, provided it's fun, you're willing to roleplay it, and the GM is okay with it.

And I'm gonna stop babbling about that. If you look carefully, there are already some posts about this somewhere else on the forum.

Kelemelan wrote: Yeah, well, I'm from a time when there were no so-called computer rpgs and nothing but pen & paper. So to me, RPG means RPG and everything else is something else : boardgame, computer game, mmo, what have you...

Sure, if you want to use overly broad definitions.. it just falls apart as soon as someone says "what kind of game is that?"

While Star Fleet Battles and Settlers of Catan are both boardgames for example, they're about as different in theme, scope, and complexity as possible, and one in no way can serve as a frame of reference for the other.

Describing an RPG as "like Dungeons & Dragons" likewise describes games with common mechanical or thematical elements, it also implies some very specific traits and in no way encompasses the breadth of the genre... like Mythic for example, that can be played entirely without a DM/GM.. or Traveler that takes place in space and uses an entirely different mechanical system.

My point being like "RPG" is overly broad and inadequate to describe the breadth of games available under that umbrella, likewise is "boardgame". You mentioned in another thread you think of boardgames as things like monopoly or chess, but that's an outdated and very limited definition. Some boardgames in my collection like Leviathans, Crimson Skies, and Renegade Legion have a vastly more interesting story and universe with significantly better mechanics for roleplaying in them than many RPGs I've seen. Crimson Skies won't do if you want to figure out what you have to roll for initiative before combat, but there's not a single RPG on the planet that would beat it for role-playing a fighter pilot in an alternate 1930's universe. Not. One.

So describing some boardgames as "light RPGs" is the most accurate definition. The term "Adventure game" used to be more common, but that term has likewise become too broad to really mean much.

Note that I tried many of these, and they are most certainly entertaining. I'm just saying that they are not RPGs, that's all.

..they're not traditional P&P RPGs. But I don't think anyone could make the sane argument that the RPG genre wouldn't encompass games like Mage Knight or Magic Realm.

Lucky for you, most boardgamers hear the term RPG and still think about P&P games first and foremost